Looking at pre-vis typically isn’t very interesting — for the most part, current rendered pre-visualization sequences are just like watching the movie through the filter of Taiwan’s Next Media Animation. And even when the pre-vis is as detailed as what Third Floor did for Thor: The Dark World (which is very detailed) it’s still mostly a very crude version of the film.

But this VFX piece on Thor: The Dark World starts out as a pre-vis piece, but soon turns into a short behind the scenes look at the mix of effects and locations used in the film despite the heavy reliance on digital work. Those are the great bits, really.

There aren’t really enough shots of the practical work, especially since this is a short piece that is stuck with what is essentially a Thor TV spot at the opening. But the little we do see is very cool — the hydraulic ram shot is great.